


You Have Two Hands So That You Can Hold Two People

by Ghostigos



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Anxiety, Demiromanticism, Fluff, Multi, Polyamorous Character, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, kids with crushes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 10:21:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9651707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostigos/pseuds/Ghostigos
Summary: On a sunny day, Frisk realizes that they like Chara. They soon realize that someone else is feeling the exact same way





	

The day you officially realized that you like-liked Chara was probably sometime during the resets. Trying to recover certain emotions felt on a particular reset was about as easy as describing your dream state in descriptive detail, but you recall one memorable event protruding from your exploration, and that's the blurry configuration about how pretty Chara looked amongst the field of Echo Flowers. You think they caught you staring, or maybe they didn't notice at all; your memory is cut short by the dying wails of a Woshua disintegrating at your feet.

Now that the resets are no more, the second time you realized you like-liked Chara was much more prominent.

It was a Saturday afternoon, a time where all of you could cast aside your formal responsibilities and just be kids. You were all outside in the garden, pawing through the blooming rainbow of flowers that you had gardened (well, mostly Chara and Asriel helped your mother with the garden; you were always finding more interest in plucking ladybugs and worms into your hand).

Toriel brushed the three of you away in an uncharacteristic manner, scolding that it's a lovely day and to let her care for the garden. Asriel recommended exploring the woods outside your fenced backyard, and you three chased each other over the wooden fence and into the unknown of the forest.

Chara was especially happy that day; normally they were bogged by the events of the past, their every step seeming forced and haunted by some invisible tendrils threatening to swallow them whole by one small trip. You understood; you see the darkness too, looming above you. You're scared of a reset, of what could happen if the impossible happened; you're used to it.

But neither of you were worried today. You figured that if some sort of supernatural occurrence were to make itself known, it shouldn't be on a sunny day. Whoever was driving the course of your downfalls had to have mercy somewhere.

Eventually you all had tumbled into a river, bubbling peacefully among a hidden slope lush with green. You splashed Chara with a flick of water, and they grinned before swooping down and jumping right into a deep puddle, its impact soaking your shirt.

You gave them an irritated pout that they immediately laughed away. And that was the brief second that you noticed how their hair looked so bright and almost red in the sunbeams from above. They almost seemed to absorb the sunlight into their presence, until their smile and eyes and cheeks were so bright and lively that something began to churn in your stomach; some feeling you can't identify made you feel whiplashed.

They gave you a weird look that brought you soaring back into the present. "Are you okay?" they asked.

You shook yourself. "Yeah," you muttered, but you sounded more confused and unsure than you ever had before. "I think so."

Chara gives you a small smile. "I doubt I splashed you that hard," they joked, and they reached out to smooth a small strand from your hair before rushing back to where Asriel was searching for frogs.

The area where they had touched you felt stung and raw, like they'd taken some bit of you with them. You realized how much you appreciated Chara's touches, how much you took for granted when they held your hand or caressed your cheek to comfort you.

You looked over at Chara, crouched over with Asriel in the river. Something begins to whir and click in your brain. You wanted how you felt to make sense; it's like you were turning over a new page in a huge book directed on your thoughts on Chara. You didn't even realize how empty your book was; it was as though you were looking at a different person.

When you all returned home that evening, you'd taken Chara's hand, and without looking at you they laced their fingers with yours. You noticed how mechanical they performed that action, and how little of thought you put into the gesture as well; it was an automatic reaction. But something began to bubble and swirl upon seeing Chara's hand with yours; something that you'd never felt made you feel unnaturally warm.

You hyperfocused on their hands, how nimble and slender and soft they were. How many times had you held their hands and never even marveled at their beauty?

Your brain short-circuited. You realized how sweaty and small and gross your own hands were, and you snatched them away.

Chara looked down at you with surprise. "Frisk, is something wrong?" they asked, their voice sweetly concerned.

You didn't want to catch yourself staring at their face again; you'd already made a fool of yourself. "No," you mutter. "I'm just...tired."

Asriel, who was a few steps ahead, turned back upon seeing the delay. "Hey Frisk, are you okay?"

Your head cleared upon hearing Asriel's voice; at least _he_ wasn't making your head spin all of a sudden. "I'm fine!" you declared, and you raced back home before any questions were asked.

That night, your heart was still pounding as you watched Chara's pile of blankets shift with their movements.

You felt weird. Maybe you were just sick.

-

The day after, you go downstairs for breakfast to confront your mother about it. You're silently relieved to see that Asriel was out in the garden, leaving you two in peace.

"Mom?" you ask, your voice sheepish. "Can I ask you something?"

She looks up from her cooking to give you a patient smile. "Of course, my child. You can ask me anything."

You look down at your fingers and take an immense interest in their sudden shaking. You don't know where to start, really. All your phrasing and all your feelings are washed out the minute you part your lips.

"U-um..." You pause to catch your breath and look everywhere but at your mother. "I... I have this friend...and they...make me feel weird."

"Weird?" your mother inquires. "Weird like how?"

"Well," you start, "when I'm around them...my stomach feels weird, like floppy weird. And I get all sweaty and I don't like thinking about holding their hand. And I think they're really pretty and cool and I want to talk to them but I don't know what to say and what if they don't like me anymore!"

You catch yourself as your heart begins to pound. You realize that you've been rambling, and you'd probably given away way too much information.

Your mother kneels down beside you, taking your small hands in her giant ones. Her eyes are bright with what seems to be amusement. "My dear one," she says, "it sounds like you admire someone."

Your brain cuts short. "Admire?"

"You like someone," she clarifies with a smile. "Romantically."

 _Liking Chara romantically?_ Wanting to extend boundaries of friendship? Holding hands and maybe even kissing them---

You can't breathe again.

Your mother begins to rub your hands calmly. "Frisk, don't worry," she reassures you. "It's common for people to fancy one another at some point in their lives."

 _But I can't like Chara!_ You want to scream. _They'll think I'm weird!_

Then again, you begin to piece the puzzles slowly in your head. Maybe you've always liked them; maybe that's why you hold hands with them and they give you piggyback rides and you like when they touch your face or when they make funny faces at you.

Do they like you back?

_No._

You're reading too much into this.

"I don't _want_ to like them!" you practically shriek. "I like us as friends!"

Your mother eyes you with sympathy. "Love is an odd thing, my child," she sighs. She heaves herself upright again and smooths your hair lovingly. You remember when Chara performed the same action yesterday; you suddenly don't like your mother touching your hair.

She returns to the stove and begins to heat the pan with her fire magic. "Does this person have a name?" she asks casually.

You tell her that it's just a friend from school.

-

You end up outside in the backyard hammock, watching as Chara tends to the soil. They're talking quietly with Asriel about some event or another, and occasionally laugh for a minute or two.

Something dark begins to churn in your chest upon seeing them interact. You want to switch places with Asriel and be laughing with Chara while he has to watch.

You're being unreasonable, and you know that; it's taken Asriel so long to build up his relationship with Chara again, and to have you wish for its sudden demise would lead to inevitable heartbreak.

But still.

Your stomach clenches when the two turn around to see you observing them.

"Hey Frisk!" Asriel calls. "Wanna help with the garden?"

You turn away. "No thanks."

They look at you oddly before Chara shrugs, "Alright. Suit yourself."

They pick up immediately where they last started, like they never turned around to ask. Like you never existed.

You whirl over to the other side of the hammock with a frustrated huff.

You can't really say you've had crushes. Sure, you've been attracted to people and monsters, but you never focused on the commitment of flirting, or the romanticism of a gesture. You liked the date with Papyrus, but you felt some form of relief upon his confession. It was like something was tightening a knot inside you, and his words cut it loose.

Dating equals a relationship. Relationship has to have romantic outlines. To love someone as an equal partner, to commit to boundaries and communication and everything in between, to be vulnerable, was suffocating to you.

You've never felt squirmy like this before. You've never felt red and weird and you've never wanted to kiss anyone so badly like this. It's disgusting.

Eventually the sun begins to sizzle your left side and you flip back over to the right. Your heart is still knotted and warm upon seeing Chara, but you force it down. Maybe if you just ignore it, it'll eventually shut up and go away.

You eye Asriel instead. You watch him smile and laugh and skewer with the sparse vegetation with ease. His tail is curled near Chara's feet, and his face is pink with—

Wait a second.

You've seen your mother sweep her tail near you at least more than a few times. When asked why, she informed you that it was natural for Boss Monsters to protect their loved ones. She said it could also be a form of courtship amongst lovers.

You glare at Asriel's wide smile and bright features, and you begin to notice how glazed his eyes were, how dreamy his gaze was. When Chara turns their back to pick up another gardening tool, he simply stays in place and watches them with interest until they sit back up, and he sputters for a second like a fish out of water before finding interest in a nearby flower.

It's as though he was acting out everything you were inwardly feeling.

Your heart drops when you notice the color bursting in his cheeks and ears. You should be feeling something close to happiness for him, or them, or some form of positive thinking, but you can't stop your mind from singing, _Nononononono._

-

After dinner that night, you approach Asriel rather furiously. He lets out a surprised squawk of protest as you drag him by the collar into the bathroom. You click the door shut behind you.

Asriel gives you a face of pure shock. "Frisk! What's _wrong_ with you today?"

You're feeling unreasonably mad. You have no reason to be mad. You shouldn't even feel jealous. You don't even have proof that Asriel likes Chara too; and if he did, so what? It's not like you've been thorough with your feelings with them yet.

All that logic combined still doesn't stop you from pointing accusingly at Asriel with a huff.

"You like Chara!" You exclaim, then lower your voice in fear of listeners outside the door.

His face becomes dumbfounded, and red explodes into his face. "Wh-no! N-no I don't!" He shrieks. He begins to play with his ears; a common habit for when he's nervous. Or lying.

"Yes you do!" you argue and cross your arms firmly. "I saw the way you were looking at them in the garden! I _know_ you like them!"

"I wasn't looking at them!" His voice comes out like a deflated squeak.

"Yes you were!"

"I was talking to them! It's rude t-to not look at people when they're talking to you!"

"Your face was all red!"

"It was _hot_ outside!"

You go around in circles like this for a good couple of minutes, both of you arguing yourselves into a corner, and even then you manage to corner into more corners until you both are arguing nonsense, until you're nothing more than "did not"s and "did too"s.

A knock on the door cuts your fighting short.

"Children?" Your mother calls. "Are you alright in there?"

"We're fine!" You shout, but your tone is too mean and sharp, and immediately you soften and continue, "Asriel just needed help learning how to..." You turn to him, hopeless. Whatever walls you'd built between the two of you, it had to come crashing down in fear of being caught by Toriel.

"Frisk is teaching me how to paint my nails!" Asriel blurts out.

You cringe and pray to every God above that your mother is too distracted by other duties to focus on the fact that you left your collection of nail polish on the coffee table.

There's an ominous pause before she calls, "Alright, well, don't make a mess." You hear Chara call to your mother in your bedroom, and her footsteps retreat.

The two of you eyes each other before you exhale equal sighs of relief.

So what if Asriel likes Chara? You suppose you'd overreacted from your inner fears and anxiety emitting from your sudden development of having an actual crush. Maybe you got a little carried away.

You open your mouth to apologize when Asriel heaves a sigh and places his hands on the ends of his ears, seeming defeated. He looks at the floor. "I... When I met Chara, when we were younger, it was....different, you know?"

You don't. You don't argue, though.

"And now that...they're here again, and I'm here again, and you're here too, I just...see them differently." Asriel's voice is now barely above a whisper; he sounds close to tears. "Back then, I saw them as a sibling because I thought that friends were like that. I mean we were close, but...Chara was my only friend. And...I felt like....I was doing something by being their sibling.

But now you're here, and I see you as more of a sibling, Frisk. And Chara makes me feel...different. And warm. And...really, _really_ happy." You notice his grip on his ears tighten ever so slightly. His downcast eyes are glassy.

You want to say something, but as you search for accurate terms and phrases Asriel snaps his head up, his eyes wide and scared. "Please don't tell them, Frisk! I just got them back and I don't want them to feel weird or-or awkward around me! It took me forever to get them to understand that I didn't blame them for anything and I..."

"It's okay," is what you eventually conclude. "I won't tell."

He gives you a relieved expression, almost humorous in its accidental exaggeration.

"Thank you!" he breathes.

But you're still uneasy by his confession. His feelings are horribly similar to yours, and you honestly aren't sure what to do next.

In the mangas that Alphys gave you, you'd suspect for this sort of love triangle to end in a bloody fistfight. But you don't really want Asriel's blood (or, rather, dust) in your hands. He's your friend!

A friend who happens to like the same person as you.

Asriel shuffles on his feet as you simmer in your private conflict.

"What do we do now?" he finally asks, thankfully voicing what you were too uncomfortable to address.

You sigh in exasperation. "I don't know."

"I don't want to fight to the death!" Asriel squeaks nervously. "I read Alphys's weird comics! I don't want to-I mean, you're my friend!"

You frown, upset. "Do we have to hate each other?"

"No!" He stops, uncertain. "I mean-I don't _want_ to."

"Me neither."

Asriel gives a drawling hum, seeming suddenly lost in thought. His eyebrows scrunch together as he places his finger on his lip, projecting deep consideration.

You wait patiently for him to finish his thought process, given that you're not sure what to do either.

"I've got it!" Asriel exclaims with a snap of his fingers, startling you. "We don't do anything!"

You stare at him incredulously, almost condescendingly. It's probably not one of his brightest ideas.

"That's dumb," you voice your thoughts aloud.

"No, hear me out," Asriel replies defensively. "I mean, there's two of us, right? And only one Chara."

"Yeah?"

"So it's up to Chara to decide who they want to...you know, hold hands with," he finishes his theory with his face turning a light shade of pink.

The concept of Chara "choosing" one of you is not unlike another manga Alphys had given to you. You're wondering if Asriel's idea isn't entirely original.

But aside from that, he does have a point. Chara will choose whoever they please, and that's not something you'd feel okay with influencing.

Besides, the less you claim responsibility for your affections, the more you can shove it aside and pretend it's nonexistent.

Then again, simmering in this sudden romantic attraction like an awkward bowl of stew isn't favorable either. Just the thought of it is making your heart race and your hands sweaty.

But what other choice do you have?

"That makes sense," you eventually decide with a nod. "I'm glad we don't have to fight for them."

Asriel's eyes give a gleam, looking just as happy as you at the thought. "I'm glad we don't have to fight too, Frisk!"

A sudden thought thumps horribly at your chest. You gulp.

"What if...Chara doesn't like either of us?"

Asriel pauses, his uplifting aura dimming slightly. His expression deflates.

"Maybe they don't feel the same way," you murmur, looking down at your hands, knotted together like a sweaty, anxious pretzel. "Maybe...maybe they like someone else."

The thought stings in an area you didn't know existed beforehand. It's not a feeling you'd like to become familiar with.

Asriel interrupts your internal pessimistic spiral. "Well, we can still be friends with them, right?"

Being just friends with Chara suddenly doesn't have the same appeal it might have had at one point. You're probably being selfish, you know that. For the smallest of moments, you can't help but wish that Asriel was a soulless flower again, unable to feel the same complex emotions you have on Chara.

Of course you feel guilty the moment the bitter thought crosses your mind, and you shake your head to clear your messy thought process.

"Right," you mutter, your tongue rusted with reluctance. You feel your stomach stiffen as you agree, "They're still our friend."

"Right," Asriel repeats, and for a second you think you hear an undercurrent of a similar petulance that you were just reflecting on. Maybe a better word being "jealousy".

You untangle your hand from your own grip to extend it towards Asriel, as a gesture of compromise.

"Still friends?" you ask timidly.

Asriel doesn't hesitate to shake your hand, squishing your human palm into his little bean paws (it's very squishy and cute, admittedly, but now is not the time for reflection on the boss monster's odd anatomy).

"Still friends," he agrees kindly. There's no hint of the hostility his tone had previously threatened to carry.

Then you offer a teasing smile. "May the best monster win."

Asriel looks momentarily confused before offering a toothy smile. "Of course!"

His sincerity widens your own grin, exposing your teeth as you give a firm shake of the hands.

Despite everything, you suppose this competition could be worse.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't realize that this would become a story with multiple chapters, oops
> 
> Anyway, I'll work on this later, since it's pretty old. But writing little kids with puppy crushes and anxiety is always fun


End file.
